[Commlist] CfP: Conference “Textuality as social action in Shōwa era Japan”

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Call for papers: Conference “Textuality as social action in Shōwa era 
Japan”, University of Tartu, Estonia, 28-29 September 2023
The seemingly perpetual flash and boom of today’s audio-visually 
saturated living environment calls for new ways of thinking about our 
everyday experience of popular culture and media for the benefit of a 
more coherent understanding of the historical and social processes that 
we are inevitably involved in. In particular, it is the role and agency 
that textuality has in shaping our perception habits and consumption 
patterns of cultural products that needs to be re-examined if the scope 
of its political potential for contributing to social change is to be 
fully grasped and contextualised within a specific spatiotemporal situation.
The conference aims to align a consideration of popular cultural 
phenomena in Japan during the Shōwa era, roughly corresponding to the 
second half of the 20^th century, with the historical notion of 
textuality, on the one hand, and social action on the other. This double 
goal will be set against the backdrop of crucial events in post-war 
Japanese history, such as the country’s involvement in the Cold War-era 
geopolitics, the social and student movements of the 1960s, the high 
economic growth and its reconfiguration of the social strata, the 
subsequent waves of recession and the ongoing negotiation about Japan’s 
place within the East Asian region and the global order. By focusing on 
a wide range of texts as well as creative practices and audience 
engagement, the conference seeks to elucidate on a variety of broader 
issues relating to Japan’s past and present through the examination of 
popular culture’s capacity to express timely concerns as well as to act 
as catalyst for social protest and political activism.
*Themes*
Questions and topics addressed at the conference include but are not 
limited to:

  * Popular literary and visual texts
  * Popular music and performing arts
  * Articulations of social and protest movements
  * Depictions of historical events in popular texts
  * Textuality and spatiality
  * Audience engagement and reader reception
  * Performance and gender
  * Intermediality in popular media

*Participation*

Applications by presenters should comprise an abstract (250-300 words) 
discussing the main ideas of the paper. PhD students and early career 
researchers are most encouraged to participate. For submitting the 
abstract, please click _here_ 
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1fWGysB4QhyAe-_jZ2nFQft28bzmaEWgho6ugYXw19japyg/viewform>.

Abstract submission deadline: June 12, 2023
Notification on submitted abstracts: June 26, 2023
Participation without presentation
Students, policymakers, practitioners and researchers are invited to 
attend the conference even when not presenting a paper.
Conference is free of charge. The event will be held in-person, but 
depending on the situation of travel restrictions may be switched to 
online. For more information, please visit our _webpage_ 
<https://kultuuriteadused.ut.ee/en/content/conference-textuality-social-action-showa-era-japan>.
In case of any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ene Selart 
(_ene.selart@ut.ee_ <mailto:(ene.selart /at/ ut.ee)>).

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